Khoriv. UOC Church Seized by OCU Raiders
Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul — UOC
Address: Rivne Oblast, village of Khoriv
The Peter and Paul church in the village of Khoriv was subjected to raider attacks by the OCU on several occasions.
A group of raiders consisting of local villagers forged documents for the church and attempted to seize it.
Despite the fact that a court recognized the UOC community as the aggrieved party and also found evidence of document forgery, the church was seized.
Police representatives assisted the attackers in the raider takeover.
🔴On June 4, 2022, in the village of Khoriv in Rivne Oblast, representatives of the OCU attempted to seize the Peter and Paul UOC church.
The religious community managed to prevent the raider takeover.
According to eyewitnesses, a vehicle carrying equipment arrived on the church grounds at 4:30 a.m., before the curfew had even ended.
"Matushka Iryna heard the dogs barking and went outside, and there was already a vehicle parked near the church," said Svitlana Mashtalar, a resident of Khoriv and a UOC parishioner.
The rector's wife called the police and began summoning people to defend the church.
According to Svitlana Mashtalar, the OCU criminal group blocked the road with their vehicle in order to prevent UOC parishioners from accessing the church grounds.
In the truck, the raiders brought a generator, an angle grinder, and other tools needed to cut through locks.
The main entrance with its massive doors and locks proved too much for the raiders, so they decided to break through the altar doors in order to seize the church that way.
However, UOC parishioners stopped them before the police arrived, who, according to eyewitnesses, took a very long time to get there.
UOC parishioners asked the police to impound the vehicle and the equipment intended for the Armed Forces of Ukraine; law enforcement officers said they had no authority to do so.
"This is Oleksandr Holik's vehicle — the man people told exactly what they think of him and his activities. He never once set foot in the church, not even on major feast days, yet now he wanted to enter through the altar with an angle grinder," Svitlana Mashtalar added.
Law enforcement officers drew up a report and took statements, while UOC parishioners filed complaints and provided photo and video evidence of the attempted raider seizure.
The attackers also filed statements, claiming on the pretext that their rights were allegedly being violated.
The village elder arrived and proposed sealing the church. However, the UOC parishioners, the lawful owners of the church, refused, stating that they would resolve the dispute in court.
Several weeks earlier, a village assembly had taken place in Khoriv, on the basis of which the Rivne Military Administration registered a newly formed OCU community, disregarding the fact that the UOC religious community had also expressed its position — that it did not wish to change its denominational affiliation.
🔴On June 21, 2022, parishioners of the Peter and Paul UOC church organized round-the-clock guard duty at the church to prevent a forcible seizure by OCU activists.
The UOC community established the around-the-clock vigil after OCU supporters arrived at dawn with angle grinders to cut through the locks. Since then, parishioners have been guarding their church both day and night.
🔴On July 10, 2022, the Commercial Court of Kyiv announced the forthcoming hearing of the case concerning the illegal re-registration of the Peter and Paul UOC community.
"The case has been accepted for consideration, which means that the UOC religious community has every legal ground to appeal the unlawful actions of the state registrar of the Rivne Regional Military Administration and of the newly formed OCU community, which carried out the re-registration by illegal means," the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC stated.
🔴On July 22, 2022, it became known that law enforcement authorities had opened criminal proceedings against OCU representatives.
The criminal group was charged with inciting inter-denominational hatred and the seizure of the Peter and Paul church in the village of Khoriv in Ostroh district, as well as the use of forged documents.
"For every unlawful act committed, each individual will bear criminal responsibility," commented Raisa Dmytrenko, legal counsel for the Rivne Eparchy and human rights defender.
For violation of Article 161 — "Violation of the equal rights of citizens on the grounds of their racial or national origin, religious beliefs, disability, or other characteristics" — Part 3, "Actions committed by an organized group of persons or resulting in grave consequences," the prescribed punishment is imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years.
🔴On the morning of September 9, 2022, OCU raiders stormed the grounds of the church of the Apostles Peter and Paul, demanding that the keys to the church be handed over and that the parish house — where the priest resides with his family — be vacated.
However, UOC parishioners prevented the raiders from entering the church grounds.
According to witnesses, the raiders justified their actions with a single "document" bearing only the seal of the OCU eparchy, which has no legal force.
The UOC religious community called the police, and the village elder of Khoriv was summoned to the scene. After prolonged altercations and threats from OCU activists, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church faithful managed to reach an agreement with the raiders that they would not use force and that all property claims against the UOC would be resolved through the courts.
🔴On September 29, 2022, the Ostroh District Court issued a ruling recognizing the religious community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Peter and Paul church in the village of Khoriv as the aggrieved party in the conflict with the OCU.
At its hearing, the Ostroh District Court examined the complaint filed by the UOC community of Khoriv village of the Ostroh Deanery against the inaction of investigators who had refused to recognize the community as the aggrieved party in the inter-denominational conflict initiated by OCU representatives.
The Ostroh court heard witnesses in the case and ordered that UOC parishioners be recognized as the aggrieved party in the religious conflict. The court also found a number of other violations committed by the OCU group: forgery of documents on the basis of which the re-registration was carried out, resulting in the UOC religious community being removed from the Unified State Register; incitement of religious hatred; and attempts to forcibly seize the church, which is a recognized architectural monument.
Legal counsel and human rights defender Raisa Dmytrenko noted that "the court's ruling is lawful," that it "protects the constitutional rights of both every individual and the community as a whole, and confirms that violations have been committed against our community."
"The religious community will continue to defend its right to freely profess its faith, and no one has the right to forcibly compel it to change its denominational affiliation," Raisa Dmytrenko stressed.
🔴On the morning of June 6, 2023, OCU raiders seized the Peter and Paul church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The raiders entered the church grounds, pushed parishioners outside the fence, closed the gates, and broke down the church door using an angle grinder and a sledgehammer. Police guarded the storming party.
Afterward, a "commission" composed of OCU members and Mykola Bendyuk, a historian from the city of Ostroh, entered the church. Neither UOC parishioners nor government representatives were included in the "commission."
According to the head of the legal department of the Rivne Eparchy of the UOC, Protoierei Vasyl Nachev, the church community has gathered photo and video evidence of the seizure of the shrine and will be taking the matter to court.
🔴On July 12, 2023, the community of the raider-seized Peter and Paul UOC church in the village of Khoriv in Rivne Oblast prayed in a tent for the first time on their patronal feast day.
Priests and laypeople of the UOC from other villages arrived in Khoriv. The festive divine service was led by the secretary of the Rivne Eparchy, Protoierei Viktor Zemlyanyi, co-celebrating with the clergy of the Ostroh Deanery.
The tent in which the service was held was set up in the garden of the parish rector, Protoierei Yakiv Derkach.
КУ ст. 35 (свобода вероисповедания) · ЕСПЧ ст. 9 · Нормы ООН